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Uncommon and Obscure Combat Patches Being Worn.


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The guy with the 7th Patch looks much older....I worked for a guy who was CT NG (26th Div) in the late 80's (He did SMP/ROTC then later commissioned) ...his NCO was a combat-wounded Korean War vet. Let's guess this guy was born in 1932, making him 18 when Korea started, he'd be 53 in 1985. Still well within acceptable age range by regulation, and fairly common to see old soldiers in the Guard.

 

Intriguing hypothesis Baron, maybe he is a Korea war vet, too bad we can't see any rank, CSM or a Full Bird, for all we know he might be a general.

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Intriguing hypothesis Baron, maybe he is a Korea war vet, too bad we can't see any rank, CSM or a Full Bird, for all we know he might be a general.

 

Or a 53 year old E5 because it's the National Guard....

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Intriguing hypothesis Baron, maybe he is a Korea war vet, too bad we can't see any rank, CSM or a Full Bird, for all we know he might be a general.

 

 

Or a 53 year old E5 because it's the National Guard....

Per the caption of the photo, he was a Sergeant First Class. This is from the September-October 1985 issue of "Buckeye Guard" magazine.

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Intriguing hypothesis Baron, maybe he is a Korea war vet, too bad we can't see any rank, CSM or a Full Bird, for all we know he might be a general.

I wore a steel pot with BDU’s in basic training in 1987, so it is perfectly reasonable that a Guard unit might have been so equipped in the early 80’s.

 

Probably a Korean war vet.

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  • 1 month later...

Here's a few of photos that show the vagueries of wearing combat patches during the Vietnam War. This first sergeant was amember of the 29th Infantry Brigade of the Hawaiian National Guard when it was mobilized. He was sent to Vietnam in April 1968 as an individual replacement. He was initially assigned to HHC, 3rd Brigade 82nd Airborne Division at Phu Loi and was expecting to be an NCO assistant for the brigade surgeon. As such, he attended the five day proficiency course conducted by the 82nd. Upon completion, he was reassigned to the 4th Medical Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division and arrived at that unit within days, having been in Vietnam less than two weeks total. As you can see in these photos, he is wearing an 82nd Airborne Division combat patch based on his service of about a week with that unit while going through in-country processing. Also note he is wearing a full color 4th Infantry Division SSI.

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A view of the combat patch being worn on a fatique item in the 50s, rare indeed and seen as here, once in a blue moon, a 2nd Division vet of the 74th RCT in 1956.

 

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Patch worn by a member of the Mississippi State Guard(militia). He has a 2nd award CIB but wearing a Marine combat patch.

Gotta love the flag they wear.Posted ImagePosted Image

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

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That's one of the USMC-related SSI that the Army authorized for wear as "combat patches" by Soldiers of organizations attached to the Marine units in Iraq. Marines don't wear them and I think the Soldier's units already had authorized Army SSIs, so the logic of that is still not clear to me. But, it is a neat series of SSI to collect. The Institute of Heraldry website, when it was up, had a page that showed all of the USMC-related SSI that the Army authorized for wear by Soldiers.

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One Lt Col Raymond C. Ashby Jr C.O. 2nd Battalion 74th Infantry in 1956, appeaps to have been a non infantry officer till after WWII, got an EIB as we see with no Korean War ribbons, served in some kind of support branch in WWII as he's wearing the ETO HQ patch as a FWTS patch, he may of been in COMZ and just updated the patch?

 

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One Lt Col Raymond C. Ashby Jr C.O. 2nd Battalion 74th Infantry in 1956, appeaps to have been a non infantry officer till after WWII, got an EIB as we see with no Korean War ribbons, served in some kind of support branch in WWII as he's wearing the ETO HQ patch as a FWTS patch, he may of been in COMZ and just updated the patch?

 

attachicon.giftraymond_c_ashby_jr_2nd_bn0018.jpgattachicon.gifshuoppkkkking.jpg

Not much on Ashby, Raymond C. Jr, as to his WWII service, though did find his O register listing for 1967.

 

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And this page on him from a 1967 Palos Verdes California newspaper at his retirement.

 

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PVPN19671011.2.45&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1

 

Peninsula Colonel Retires From UCLA

PALOS VERDES PENIN SULA - Col. Raymond C. Ashby, Jr., Infantry, US Army, is retiring as professor of military science and commanding officer of the Army ROTC unit at UCLA. He was honored Sept. 28 when he was presented the Legion of Merit and proclamations by the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA). The presentations were made at a retirement luncheon held in his honor at the Century Plaza Hotel. Among those honor ing Col. Ashby were UCLA Chancellor and Mrs. Frank lin D. Murphy; actor Gene Raymond; Mrs. Harnett Weider, assistant city protocol officer; and Charles W. Hutton, AUSA chapter president. Col Ashby, who was com missioned a second lieutenant in UCLA’s Army ROTC in 1936, has served in his present capacity at the university since 1963. The Legion of Merit cited him for his “outstanding leadership capability. . . professional knowledge. . . and high sense of duty.” The Legion of Merit was awarded by Col. James H.

Stell, Inf., US Army, Southern California Sector commander of the XV Corps. Col. Ashby, who lives at 4260 Stalwart Drive, Palos Verdes Estates, will be succeeded by Lt. Col. Donald G. Moore, Infantry, US Army, who recently returned from Vietnam where he was. Deputy Director of the Combined Intelligence Center. Col. Moore, also a UCLA graduate (Chinese language studies) took up his new duties at UCLA Oct. 1.

COL. R.C. ASHBY, JR. .. .Retiring

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Starting I imagine sometime in the 50s this patch was worn as a shoulder patch for Special Amphibious Engineer Brigades, here's one worn by a LTC (retired in 1964) of one of the Reserve Special Amphibious Engineer Brigades, he was from NYC, but I'm not sure which one of the Special Amphibious Engineer Brigades was a reserve unit, I thought maybe the 2nd, but now not sure, and online info for these 50s-60s units is non existent. Special Amphibious Engineer Brigades at one point even had a Unit Crest approved for them.

 

 

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Here's a close up of the 50s-60s DI, not sure if it's still in use

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mysteriousoozlefinch

Not much on Ashby, Raymond C. Jr, as to his WWII service, though did find his O register listing for 1967.

 

attachicon.gifScrern....png

 

And this page on him from a 1967 Palos Verdes California newspaper at his retirement.

 

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PVPN19671011.2.45&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1

 

Peninsula Colonel Retires From UCLA

PALOS VERDES PENIN SULA - Col. Raymond C. Ashby, Jr., Infantry, US Army, is retiring as professor of military science and commanding officer of the Army ROTC unit at UCLA. He was honored Sept. 28 when he was presented the Legion of Merit and proclamations by the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA). The presentations were made at a retirement luncheon held in his honor at the Century Plaza Hotel. Among those honor ing Col. Ashby were UCLA Chancellor and Mrs. Frank lin D. Murphy; actor Gene Raymond; Mrs. Harnett Weider, assistant city protocol officer; and Charles W. Hutton, AUSA chapter president. Col Ashby, who was com missioned a second lieutenant in UCLA’s Army ROTC in 1936, has served in his present capacity at the university since 1963. The Legion of Merit cited him for his “outstanding leadership capability. . . professional knowledge. . . and high sense of duty.” The Legion of Merit was awarded by Col. James H.

Stell, Inf., US Army, Southern California Sector commander of the XV Corps. Col. Ashby, who lives at 4260 Stalwart Drive, Palos Verdes Estates, will be succeeded by Lt. Col. Donald G. Moore, Infantry, US Army, who recently returned from Vietnam where he was. Deputy Director of the Combined Intelligence Center. Col. Moore, also a UCLA graduate (Chinese language studies) took up his new duties at UCLA Oct. 1.

COL. R.C. ASHBY, JR. .. .Retiring

 

In 1945 he was a Major assigned to the Infantry School at Fort Benning.

 

Here's a close up of the 50s-60s DI, not sure if it's still in use

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The 2nd was active until 1955, deactivated, then reactivated in 1956 as the "2nd Engineer Amphibious Support Command" to conduct training at Fort Belvoir then Fort Story, also possibly Fort Lewis(?) until 1965. Some early 1960s certificates and photos I've seen over the years show the seahorse insignia in use by them. Unhelpfully, a Military Reserve Posture report from 1962 identifies the two Engineer Amphibious Support Commands as part of the Army Reserve's major units but doesn't ID them further. Previously, all of them had been Engineer Amphibious Support Brigades through 1959.

 

Tentatively I've ID'd them as:

 

The 410th Engineer Command (Amphibious Support) which was located in NYC from an issue of the Navy's "All Hands" from December 1960. With one picture showing no clear SSI from the Army Information Digest in 1963. Ebay hits seem to indicate that someone thinks they used that DI.

 

And the 498th Engineer Command (Amphibious Support) at Fort Lawton from a contemporary newspaper obituary in 1963, plus another 1963 newspaper article, and a 1964 article on training exercises off the Oregon coast being cancelled.

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In 1945 he was a Major assigned to the Infantry School at Fort Benning.

 

 

The 2nd was active until 1955, deactivated, then reactivated in 1956 as the "2nd Engineer Amphibious Support Command" to conduct training at Fort Belvoir then Fort Story, also possibly Fort Lewis(?) until 1965. Some early 1960s certificates and photos I've seen over the years show the seahorse insignia in use by them. Unhelpfully, a Military Reserve Posture report from 1962 identifies the two Engineer Amphibious Support Commands as part of the Army Reserve's major units but doesn't ID them further. Previously, all of them had been Engineer Amphibious Support Brigades through 1959.

 

Tentatively I've ID'd them as:

 

The 410th Engineer Command (Amphibious Support) which was located in NYC from an issue of the Navy's "All Hands" from December 1960. With one picture showing no clear SSI from the Army Information Digest in 1963. Ebay hits seem to indicate that someone thinks they used that DI.

 

And the 498th Engineer Command (Amphibious Support) at Fort Lawton from a contemporary newspaper obituary in 1963, plus another 1963 newspaper article, and a 1964 article on training exercises off the Oregon coast being cancelled.

Thanks for all thar ozzle, Ashby's a curious one, if he was Infantry during the war, he didn't fight in it as a infantryman, rather he must of been a high echelon staff officer, nothing too out of the ordinary really among some infantry officers.

 

Thanks for those Reserve Eng Ampb unit's, this Lt Col must of been in the 410th as he was from NYC, Queens.

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Thanks for all thar ozzle, Ashby's a curious one, if he was Infantry during the war, he didn't fight in it as a infantryman, rather he must of been a high echelon staff officer, nothing too out of the ordinary really among some infantry officers.

 

Thanks for those Reserve Eng Ampb unit's, this Lt Col must of been in the 410th as he was from NYC, Queens.

Interesting no shoulder patches are worn in that one photo, the little uniform grouping I got contained three of his fatique shirts, each with an eclectic array of insignia, one a Army Navy Store type in HBT, Burst of Glory tack buttons which I don't think were ever painted as they're silver colored, dullish, all the insignia, that's the tapes and seahorse patch are hand sewn and the rank and branch of service are metal, this this one had a bit of fading to it, but not too bad. The next two, GI issue OD cotton sateen 1953 dated, very little use, one has Khaki Twill Rank and Branch of Service sewn on, this one has a COMZ combat patch, all are machine sewn, the last one ditto, COMZ combat, and one of those U.S. ARMY tapes embroidered on Black Twill with Black Border, the other two the rayon wove ones, on this one metal collar rank and BOS are used again.

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mysteriousoozlefinch

Thanks for all thar ozzle, Ashby's a curious one, if he was Infantry during the war, he didn't fight in it as a infantryman, rather he must of been a high echelon staff officer, nothing too out of the ordinary really among some infantry officers.

 

Thanks for those Reserve Eng Ampb unit's, this Lt Col must of been in the 410th as he was from NYC, Queens.

 

He may well have been at the Infantry School the whole war, or with one of the other IRTC units, even one of the separate infantry regiments. The 29th, 118th, and 156th both saw service in the COMZ in Europe. The 156th even had its 2nd Battalion attached to SHAEF HQ as guards.

 

Interesting no shoulder patches are worn in that one photo, the little uniform grouping I got contained three of his fatique shirts, each with an eclectic array of insignia, one a Army Navy Store type in HBT, Burst of Glory tack buttons which I don't think were ever painted as they're silver colored, dullish, all the insignia, that's the tapes and seahorse patch are hand sewn and the rank and branch of service are metal, this this one had a bit of fading to it, but not too bad. The next two, GI issue OD cotton sateen 1953 dated, very little use, one has Khaki Twill Rank and Branch of Service sewn on, this one has a COMZ combat patch, all are machine sewn, the last one ditto, COMZ combat, and one of those U.S. ARMY tapes embroidered on Black Twill with Black Border, the other two the rayon wove ones, on this one metal collar rank and BOS are used again.

 

In what digging I did, the 410th had a long history as an ORC/Army Reserve unit. They were an Engineer Special Brigade circa 1951, then an Engineer Amphibious Support Brigade, etc. through at least the mid-1960s with the same number. I wonder what sort of unit he served with in the COMZ?

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He may well have been at the Infantry School the whole war, or with one of the other IRTC units, even one of the separate infantry regiments. The 29th, 118th, and 156th both saw service in the COMZ in Europe. The 156th even had its 2nd Battalion attached to SHAEF HQ as guards.

 

 

In what digging I did, the 410th had a long history as an ORC/Army Reserve unit. They were an Engineer Special Brigade circa 1951, then an Engineer Amphibious Support Brigade, etc. through at least the mid-1960s with the same number. I wonder what sort of unit he served with in the COMZ?

I had to look for a real old Email I got on him and remembered his units where listed, I got this Email from a deep background contact and I fogot to look at one section of it, the one where the units are listed.

 

So in WWII he was in the 365th Engineer General Service Regiment (Colored) and was indeed in the 410th Engineer Command (Amphibious Support) by the early 60s the unit's HQ was at Camp Drum it seems.

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mysteriousoozlefinch

I had to look for a real old Email I got on him and remembered his units where listed, I got this Email from a deep background contact and I fogot to look at one section of it, the one where the units are listed.

 

So in WWII he was in the 365th Engineer General Service Regiment (Colored) and was indeed in the 410th Engineer Command (Amphibious Support) by the early 60s the unit's HQ was at Camp Drum it seems.

 

Thanks for looking it up, Patches!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Brigadier General Frank H. Linnell wearing the 18th Abn Corps combat patch for the Dom Rep in Vietnam when he was the 196th Inf Bde commander, May 1967- November 1967 when the brigade was still separate. (Photo from member Cpl Punishment)

 

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The CBI patch as seen on Major General Milton A. Pilcher in 1974 at his retirement ceromony,with General Frederick C. Weyand, Vice Chief of Staff United States Army. Pilcher was a Merrill's Marauder and was at this time Commander of the 310th Support Command.

 

https://www.army.mil/article/186387/oldest_merrills_marauder_maj_gen_milton_pilcher_dies_at_100

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Here's another photo of the Dress Blues with shoulder patches, this one far away from Washington DC, early 1951, these guys are at the Presidio of San Fransisco and are members of a 6th Army Band, they are in the company of the 6th Army Pipe band.

 

So now we are seeing that the wear of shoulder patches and tabs on Blues was not limited to unit in Washington, makes one now ask the question if it was all/only Honor Guard/Bands that had as a uniform the Dress Blues that shoulder patches were allowed to be worn on?

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One more period photo of a shoulder patch worn on the Dress Blues in the late 40s into the 50s, this being the Army Ground Forces now re titled U.S. Army Field Forces, (1948–1955) with unit band tab, of additional note is he's wearing the Combat Branch 1948 Reg stripes, as a band member one would think he would of worn the support branch types (Photo I think from Seanmc1114).

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

1st Logistical Command combat patch worn by an Engineer Drill Instructor. Note he is wearing the SSI reversed on both his BDU's and dress greens with the arrow facing forward.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Pacific Stars & Stripes. I'm not sure if this being worn as a combat patch or if they were normally worn on the right sleeve with another SSI on the left sleeve.

 

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